updated 09:00 am EDT, Mon October 17, 2011

iPhone 4S doubles iPhone 4 sales

Apple on Monday revealed that the iPhone 4S had reached over four million sales in just its first weekend. The results were more than twice as many as for the earlier iPhone 4 during a similar span of time, Senior VP Phil Schiller said. He added that it was the "most ever for a phone," setting an industry record.

Over 25 million people have downloaded iOS 5 since it became available on October 12, Apple added.

The result was helped along by having one of Apple's largest first-wave iPhone launches. Along with including Australia, Canada, Japan, and key European countries, it also reached major carriers that haven't been available in the past for a genuinely new iPhone launch, such as Sprint and Verizon in the US as well as KDDI Au in Japan.

Its performance also puts Samsung's repeated public milestone claims in context. The Galaxy S II took 55 days to hit three million and only just hit 10 million in late September. While Apple's sales rate will slow down, it will have reached a similar goal more than 18 times faster.

Samsung may have hurt itself by its typical gradual approach to releases, where it often starts just in its home country of Korea or in Europe and takes months to go elsewhere. The Galaxy S II didn't reach the US until mid-September with the Epic 4G Touch, which shipped nearly five months after the original version became available.

How many?

How many of those phones were delivered is my question? I ask because I was duped into preordering an iPhone 4S from the AT&T store (with a promise of delivery by 10/14 - 10/15) only to find that, 1) My iPhone has not even been shipped, nor has my card been charged and 2) Both of my local AT&T stores (plus the Super Target) had 100s of extra iPhones to sell. Yet, the stores refused to cancel peoples' preorders and allow them to buy a phone that was in stock.

Our Verizon store got no 64GB 4Ss

I waited till last Friday to pick up a 64GB 4S at our local Verizon office, because the sales guy said they didn't expect to sell out on the 14th and I didn't want to preorder if it was going take 2 weeks or more to get it. So, Friday morning I traipse into the store and am told they never got any 64GB units. WTH!! They had 32GBs, but I wanted the larger capacity, so I preordered after all and now I'm waiting till the 28th. I walked to my car trying to decide if I could live with the lower capacity. After a few minutes, I went back in and said I changed my mind, I would get the 32GB instead. The sales guy said it was too late, even though the credit card had not been charged and obviously, no phone had been shipped, I was told it would take almost 2 weeks to cancel the order. Needless to say, I'm waiting on a delivery by the 28th.

Re: So much for the pundits.

There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that anyone but the pundits are disappointed in the lack of a 4" screen. None whatsoever.

Um, high sales do not mean people aren't disappointed by lack of a bigger screen. But they may decide it wasn't worth waiting until it finally comes. Sort of like those people who get a Mac even though they really want a mini-tower.

And you also don't know what sales (or demand or what-not) might have been like if it did have a 4" screen.

BTW, early sales aren't really indicative of anything, since there's a large swath of fanboys who'd stand in line for Apple socks. It's all a question of WHO is amongst that 4 million. How many are just upgraders, and what are they upgrading from? How many are switching, and from what? You know, stuff like that.